Q. Do you feel that was one that got away, especially after the first set?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Well, I don't know about "got away." I lost in straight sets. You know, the first set could have gone either way. The tiebreak I had chances. I had a second serve, sort of went after it. He put a little bit more kick on it. I just didn't quite time it. That was a big point in the tiebreak. Yeah, then I came in on a ball, and he hit a pretty good pass. I came in on a pretty good slice. He hit a good backhand up-the-line passing shot to get up a mini break, and then hit a big ace to finish it off.

Then I just played a couple of, you know -- a loose double-fault at deuce first game of the second set, and that opened it up for him.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about his serving, what he does?

LLEYTON HEWITT: He served extremely well today. Yeah, any quarter chances that I did get, you know, I didn't have them for long. Yeah, he hit every line out there with his serve today. That's why he's the best player going around, especially on this surface. Serve is so important. He hit the target every time. I had a few breakpoint chances there late in the second set and early in the third set. I didn't do too much wrong with them.

Q. Is the daunting thing about playing him that he obviously gets the shots in so well, or is there also a psychological barrier for everyone that he has such a great record? Is that something you have to try to overcome as well?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, you don't focus too much on that. Once you go out there to play it's about what you can do to try to, yeah, upset his rhythm, not play into his comfort zone too much. But, yeah, when he's serving like that it's not easy on this surface purely because, as I said the other day, his serve sets up the point for him to play in his comfort zone. It's very hard to take him out of that zone.

Q. Must get very disspiriting. Seems like every time you get a bit close, he's able to step up another level. Does that get you down when you're playing like that?

LLEYTON HEWITT: I don't know about "another level." He stayed pretty similar the whole way through. But, yeah, it was just the last five years or so he's played the big points extremely well. That's where the difference is.

Q. You did 14 aces against Bolelli. Today I think three or four. What does that mean? Does that mean you served worse or that Federer is much quicker in returning and moving and getting your serves?

LLEYTON HEWITT: A little bit of both. I didn't serve probably as well today. Roger's never gonna hit you off the court with his return of serve, though. He gets it back to start the point, whereas a guy like Bolelli is probably going after it a little bit more and swinging.So you can probably -- yeah, with Roger, you can probably go for your serve a little bit more on your first serve, because even on the second serve he's not going to hurt you with that first hit like a lot of other returners. Quite often he just blocks it back into play with a slice backhand. So I'm not sure. I didn't hit probably as many targets as I would have liked on the serve. But, you know, he handles Andy Roddick and Karlovic and all the big servers pretty well. You know, actually getting the ball back in play, he does extremely well from the return of serve. An actual attacking returner, he's not one of those.

Q. How far away do you feel you are from the best two or three guys at the moment?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Uhm, yeah, it's hard to say. Out there today I didn't feel like I was that far away. But then the big points, he played, you know, a lot better than I did. Yeah, even the first game I had Love-30, and then he hit four big first serves to win that game. Any time I tried to take a step I couldn't really, you know, put any momentum together, I guess, or put any pressure on his service games. Obviously he, Djokovic and Nadal are the three stand-outs at the moment, especially on a week-in, week-out basis. Yeah, I don't feel like I'm that far away.

Q. Do you feel you can get back into the top four, to get to the point where you're not drawing Roger in the first Monday of the second week?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, well, I've got to play a lot more matches to get the ranking back up there. That comes with, you know, being healthy and staying injury-free, too.

Q. Are you committed to doing that, playing that many matches, if you can?

LLEYTON HEWITT: If the body does, yeah. If the body holds up.

Q. What are your plans now? Are you going to look at Olympics and US Open, or are you going to have to assess the hip injury and possibly consider missing those for surgery?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I'm not sure yet. I've tried to not focus on it too much. But, yeah, this was the tournament that I wanted to play in. Now I'll probably try and focus more on, you know, career-wise, you know, trying to get the hip right because, you know, right at the moment it's not just getting any better. So I'm just gonna have to speak to more people and see what my best options are.

Q. Does it get worse through matches?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah. As the match goes on it gets a little bit worse.

Q. So losing the first set was even more crucial to you?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah. Against a guy like Roger it is. He's a pretty good frontrunner, too.

Q. Do you go back to Sydney straightaway?

LLEYTON HEWITT: I don't think so, no.

Q. How does it feel becoming a dad for the second time?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, good. Thanks.

Q. Is the baby due in January?

LLEYTON HEWITT: I'm not sure.

Q. Just given the hip and whatever you might do, as long as the body holds out, you'd be trying to come back next year to Wimbledon, that's the plan?

LLEYTON HEWITT: To where, sorry?

Q. Here next year.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, absolutely. This is one of the major tournament, so I hope to be back here.

LLEYTON Hewitt and his wife Bec have confirmed they are expecting their second child, after Bec's rounded tum raised eyebrows this week at Wimbledon.The Hewitts have told OK! Magazine their baby is due in January.

The couple already have a daughter Mia, who was born in November 2005.

Q. Midway through the fifth set, a switch in momentum. What do you attribute that to in Fernando lifting his game a bit, yours going off a bit?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Big point was probably 1‑All in the fifth, I had fif‑40. I had another breakpoint. I couldn't get that break. I felt at that stage I was starting to get back on top. From the second and third sets, he was dominating the match. I had to try to find a way to get back into it. I was able to do that through the fourth, broke a couple of times. Early in that fifth set, it would have been nice to go up an early break.

Yeah, he came up with a couple of big forehands on those points. Yeah, but if I could have got that early break, it could have been a little bit different.

Q. Is this the toughest loss in your career?

LLEYTON HEWITT: It's not the toughest, no.

Q. Was your recent lack of match play a factor?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Who knows. Obviously, the more matches you have, the more matches against the better players in the Masters Series, big tournaments, it's obviously going to help in the tight situations on the big points.

Yeah, there was still only a couple of points in it there in the fifth set, if I could have broken there, then consolidated early in the fifth set, you know, he was ready to go as well a little bit.

Yeah, even with that set, I still had my chance out there.

Q. Did Fernando's injury break throw you at all?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Maybe a little bit, I guess. I wasn't quite serving as well as I had early in the match, though. Even though I won the fourth set, I didn't feel like I had my best serving set that set at all. Then the fifth set, I didn't serve great. I gave him too many chances to dictate with his forehand. Yeah, that was probably the telling point.

Q. You pushed him pretty close. He's a very good player. Is this discouraging for you with your comeback or encouraging? Does it give you hope you can get back to where you were?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I don't know right at the moment. Haven't really thought about it too much. You go out there and you try and beat whoever you're up against.

I'll probably look back at it in a couple of days' time, yeah, look at where I could have improved and whatever. But, yeah, in hindsight, when you haven't had the matches, haven't played five sets for quite a while, yeah, you're always going to be fighting it, I guess, a little bit.

In terms of that then, you know, I think it's a good springboard for the rest of the year. I would have still liked to have gone a bit further in the tournament.

Q. Where do you go now?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Play San Jose and Memphis in a couple weeks' time.

Q. No matter what happens from here, do you feel you've written yourself into the history of this tournament by having so many great matches?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I don't know. I guess I wrote myself into the tournament when I lost in the final a couple years ago.

Yeah, I'm not sure. This is my 13th Australian Open. I've been coming here for a while now.

Q. Any sense that it's your last Australian Open?

LLEYTON HEWITT: No, I don't think so.

Q. Where do you feel you are at the moment as far as getting back into the top 10?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Right there. The guys that I've lost to, especially the last two weeks, yeah, they're both top 15 at the moment. But when they're at their best, you know, Nalbandian is possibly top‑five, top‑seven player and González is a top‑10 player. The two losses haven't been the worst losses on paper. I probably could have easily won both those matches, as well.

In the next couple days, I'll get to assess how it went, how the body's pulled up. I'll probably go through it with Rochey and see what maybe I could have done a little bit better.

Q. How did your body hold up? Your first five‑set match in months.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, pretty good. Just wasn't quite getting enough push‑off in my legs, my left leg, just due to playing five sets, especially as the match went on with my serve. It probably cost me a little bit. Especially late in the fourth and fifth sets, I just wasn't getting a high enough percentage in first serves. That probably comes with the strength of pushing off my left leg a lot more than I've done in quite a long time.

Q. You said during the week that it would be nice to have someone else take a bit of the burden of expectation off you that you've had for a long time. Bernard Tomic in the last 24 hours is all over the front pages. Do you think that might help you as you come back, not having as much pressure on you?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, it was a great win by Bernard yesterday, but he's still got a long way to go before he's in the top hundred and playing in the other slams, the other Masters Series week in and week out. I could be retired by the time he gets to top hundred. Who knows how long that will take, so...

Q. Do you see similarities in the expectations that are on him now and were on you at a similar age?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, a little bit. When I was coming up, though, Pat was already up there. We had a good stock of players, I guess. There was quite a lot of, you know, not exceptional top‑10 players, but a great group. Stoltenberg, the Woodies, Sandon Stolle, Richard Fromberg. There were so many of them that were competitive week in and week out on the tour. It probably made it easier for me to hang around with guys, hit with guys, learn from them as well a lot, whereas Bernard right at the moment, there's probably really only myself and Gooch that are on the tour week in and week out in the actual ATP tournaments.

The more Aussies we can get there, the better off it is for everyone coming through.

Q. (Question regarding the surgery and thoughts of retirement.)

LLEYTON HEWITT: No, not at all. I really didn't have that much time to think about the surgery, to tell you the truth. As soon as I flew back from Beijing, I landed that morning, then that afternoon I was under the knife. If I was going to retire, then I wouldn't have had the surgery done.

It wasn't something that was going to affect me in everyday life for the rest of my life. It was something that, you know, if I want to still play tennis, then it had to be done.

Q. Did you have any input as to whether this was a day or night match?

LLEYTON HEWITT: I would have preferred to play during the day today, so...

Q. Will you take Bernard under your wing if he approaches you to hit with him on tour?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Absolutely. I haven't really seen a lot of him. He came to the Davis Cup tie in Townsville. He rolled up a little bit later than everyone else, so I didn't get a chance to hit with him at all there.

I really haven't seen him play a lot. Yeah, obviously to win a tour match is obviously a huge bonus. It wasn't just him yesterday. You know, Brydan Klein, who I've hit with a lot, had I thought a really good win against a really good player yesterday as well. They're boys that have to take the next step. When you get wild cards into these tournaments, you have to take them, you have to take your chance.

Q. How would you rate Fernando's chance in the tournament?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, he's a tough player to play against for anyone, even the best guys like Roger, Rafa, those guys, purely because he wants to play on his terms. He's always gonna be the guy trying to dictate play. If he's able to dictate play, then he's extremely tough to beat. He's obviously in a section with Gasquet and Nadal after that. He's going to have his work cut out. But he's a dangerous floater.

Q. (Question about his left leg.)

LLEYTON HEWITT: I think it would keep improving probably six months since the surgery and rehab till it gets actually to its strongest and when hopefully you don't have any issues.

Q. How tough are the next few months going to be now? Your ranking is going to drop a bit. You won't have the protection of the seeding any more.

LLEYTON HEWITT: It won't be that tough. I'm only playing a couple of small tournaments. Got Davis Cup, a couple of Masters Series in America. Yeah, I really don't have any points to defend, apart from a fourth round at Wimbledon, for the whole year. I can't say I'm too worried about points and rankings right at the moment.

Q. This is a close match. You've had a lot of dramatic matches here. What are some of the most memorable ones for you looking back?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Nearly all seven matches that I played in 2005, I think. Yeah, every match was a bit of a rollercoaster out there. That was probably the year that I had a lot of ‑‑ a couple of five‑setters, a couple of close four‑setters nearly every match. That and probably obviously the Baghdatis match last year.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Maybe a little bit, I guess. I wasn't quite serving as well as I had early in the match, though. Even though I won the fourth set, I didn't feel like I had my best serving set that set at all. Then the fifth set, I didn't serve great. I gave him too many chances to dictate with his forehand. Yeah, that was probably the telling point.

Thanks Chris!

Yep, I figured as much. That's why I called them the wonder twins at ESPN.

Lleyton's going to be a father for the 2nd time as Bec is expecting baby number 2

Proposition: Having kids is bad for a pro's tennis game . Discuss. Anyone know of an exception to prove the rule?

The verdict is still out on Roger right now. Most of the 'top' players are too young to be thinking about kids (Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, etc.). I'm happy for Hewitt and Bec.

Was wondering if I'd get a bite from you, Dallas . Hopefully Roger will be that exception. I'm truly pleased for them too. All the same, I can't comprehend the Hewitts wanting to move out of Sydney (since I keep thinking of moving back ).

Two-time champion here Lleyton Hewitt, who is a young father of 3-year-old Mia and 3-month old Cruz was informed of Federer's news following his match against Jan Hernych.

“Roger Federer? Is he? There you go,” said Hewitt, who was surprised at the announcement. “(The difference with having children) is the travel and organizing travel more than anything. You still have the same commitment and desire to play, I know I do, when you go on the practice court or gym. When you go home you may not be quite as focused on the tennis or the results and playing with a toddler or infant. It's a fantastic thing to go through. I wouldn't change anything.”

It just seems to me that a lot of Nadal fans are very 'defensive'. I mean, everyone isn't going to like Nadal - regardless of what he does. That's just the way it is. We Federer fans had to put up with a lot when he was #1 like "the only reason he's beating everyone is that they all are weak", etc., etc. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that you guys should not take it personally and don't think that everyone is against Nadal. This is a new role for him (being #1) but the longer he stays - the more people will believe.

Again, from experience - when Roger became #1 they said things like "well, he won't hold that for long because there's a battle of the young guns" (young guns at that time were Federer, Roddick, Ferrero, and Hewitt. ) They thought those guys would shift back and forth with the #1 ranking so they definitely didn't think Roger would stay #1 for long. And with Agassi still around too!

Don't know if you guys remember when Roger won the Master's Cup the first year in Houston and the tournament director spent the entire ceremony praising Agassi to the point that even Agassi was embarrassed that he didn't mention Federer.

So we all have gone through the point thinking our guy has been 'dissed' - so to speak. But you just have to hang in there because Nadal lets his playing do the talking and eventually everyone will see what you guys see.

OK... that's my 2 cents! Now let me get out of Rafa's thread before you guys throw me out!

Former two-time ATP World Tour Champion Lleyton Hewitt defeated American Wayne Odesnik 6-2, 7-5 on Sunday at the US Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston to win his 27th ATP World Tour title and his second on clay. As the winner of the ATP World Tour 250 tennis tournament, the 28-year-old Aussie collects $79,000 and 250 South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings points.

"[It’s been] a while coming, so it feels great," said Hewitt. "It’s always nice to get back in the winner’s circle. This is what the hard work’s for, to play weeks like this and to have this kind of feeling at the end of them. It makes all the hard work and gone through the surgery all worth it, so it’s a good start to the year now."

Hewitt made a strong start in the first unseeded US Men’s Clay Court Championship final since 2006 (Fish d. Melzer), going up two breaks of serve against first-time ATP World Tour finalist Odesnik to take the 3-0 lead. Though Odesnik recovered a break to get on the board at 3-1, Hewitt broke him again in the seventh game before serving out the opening set.

Odesnik once again fell behind a double-break in the second set, but then made crucial saves on serve and capitalised on his break point chances to win the following five games.

"The second set, when I was down 3-0, I kind of relaxed and was able to play more aggressively," said Odesnik, who faced at least one break point in each of his service games. "I had nothing to lose, and I started playing much better, and had some chances in the second set to serve for it, but things didn’t go my way today."

Hewitt prevented Odesnik from getting the match back on level ground, winning the final four games to secure the win in just over two hours. He became the 13th player in the tournament’s Open Era history to win the title without the loss of a set, and the first Australian champion since Jason Stoltenberg won in 1994 (d. Markus) in Birmingham.

Hewitt, who converted seven of 16 break point chances, said afterward: “Clay is a tough surface to close players out. I was playing extremely well up to that point. I played some unbelievable clay court tennis, and he’s a tough competitor. He doesn’t give you cheap points out there; he makes you work for all of them. I felt like I was able to put pressure on him up until that stage. Even though he got back in that second set, every game bar one that he won in the second set I had game points. It could’ve easily been 6-love, 6-1 in the second set. I had a lot of chances, I played well to create chances; you’ve just got to take those opportunities.”

It marked Hewitt’s first title since March 2007, when he captured the Las Vegas title (d. Melzer). He had won at least one ATP World Tour title for 10 straight years before his streak came to an end in 2008. He improved to a 27-14 record in ATP World Tour finals, including a 2-0 mark on clay. He won his first clay court title in May 1999 at Delray Beach (d. Malisse), his second of 27 career titles.

“It’s been 10 years since I’ve won a clay court tournament so it’s a big day to win another clay court event,” said Hewitt. “I feel like I’m getting better and better every year on this surface, so now I really look forward to the French Open. With a bit of luck, with a good draw, I think I can do some damage there.”

Hewitt now stands at a 499-169 wins-loss record on the ATP World Tour, and could post his 500th match win at this week’s Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, where he has received a wild card entry. He takes a 7-6 head-to-head record into his first-round match against another former ATP World No. 1, Marat Safin. Should he defeat Safin, he would join Roger Federer (634) and Carlos Moya (573) as the only active players with 500 or more match wins.

Hewitt, the ATP World Tour Champion in 2001-02, finished last year ranked outside the Top 25 at No. 67 for the first time since his rookie campaign in 1998 after being hobbled by a left hip injury and underwent surgery on Aug. 16, 2008 in Melbourne. Prior to Houston, his best results of 2009 included a semi-final run in Memphis (l. to Roddick) and quarter-final result in Sydney (l. to Nalbandian). He will move from No. 88 in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings to around No. 56 by winning the Houston title.

-atptennis.com-

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Self-praise is for losers. Be a winner. Stand for something. Always have class, and be humble.

Thanks, conchita . That was nice but there wasn't much competition in Houston. I saw some of the final and think it was Hewitt's long experience that won him the title. I still think he should retire and live off his fortune but he obviously still enjoys playing so who am I to deny him that. It was also good to see J. C. Ferrero win today. I thought of you.

very special to see both nº1 and gs champions winning again after struggling with injuries so much in the past seasons. Hewitt is the kind of player you love during all his careeer. Those 2 titles involving Hewitt and Ferrero make me want to watch again the epic davis cup finals in 2000 and 2003 involving those players and great champions, unforgettable matches during legendary weekends in Barcelona and Mebourne.did you watch those 2 finals? (between us, Hewitt gave me perhaps the biggest stroke of my tennis fan career on the Friday mentioned above! , reason enough to have being long admiring this great Aussie future HOFer )

KUDOS TO HEWITT!!! CONGRATULATIONS EUROKA1!!!

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Self-praise is for losers. Be a winner. Stand for something. Always have class, and be humble.

- Lleyton Hewitt became only the third active player on the ATP tour to reach 500 victories Tuesday when he saved two match points before beating Philipp Petzschner 6-2, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (8) in the opening round of the BMW Open.

The win did not come easy for the former No. 1 from Australia, who is seeking to climb back into the top 10 after dropping to No. 55 following hip surgery.Hewitt, a wild-card entry, needed 2 hours, 34 minutes to overcome his German rival on a cool, damp day. Hewitt wasted two match points in the second set, then saved two in the decisive tiebreaker before converting his seventh match point.

Hewitt now has a 500-170 career record, which includes two major titles. The only two other active players with more than 500 wins are Roger Federer with 638 and Carlos Moya with 573.Earlier, Marin Cilic of Croatia eased into the second round by beating German qualifier Dieter Kindelmann 6-3, 6-2.

Cilic is the highest seed in the clay-court tournament at No. 2 after the late withdrawal of defending champion Fernando Gonzalez, who was the top seed. Gonzalez pulled out due to an ankle injury.

The 20-year-old Dutch qualifier Thiemo de Bakker beat 33-year-old German veteran and fifth-seeded Rainer Schuettler 6-3, 6-3. It was de Bakker's first win in a main draw match this year.

Hard-hearted Euroka doesn't think he has much of a chance much as he'd like to see him do well. He threw patriotism to the winds and went for Karlovic in the pickem's .

Hewitt hopeful of grinding his bogeyman into the dirtBelinda Tasker May 24, 2009

FOR Lleyton Hewitt, it's a case of what a difference a year makes as he prepares for his latest French Open campaign.

This time 12 months ago the former world No. 1 was struggling with a nagging hip injury and left it until the last moment to decide whether he would be fit enough to compete.

While he made it through to the third round at Roland Garros and went on to Wimbledon the next month, he finally succumbed to surgery in August and took several months off to recover.

Since returning to the tour circuit in January, Hewitt has made steady progress towards fulfilling his aim of making it back into the top 10 after his ranking slid to 108.

There was no sign of his troublesome hip as the 28-year-old, who many say is entering the twilight of his career, shared a 90-minute practice session with Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero in Paris on Friday.

The golfing buddies made the most of the near-perfect conditions under a clear blue sky to finetune their performances on the red dirt ahead of the opening day.

At one stage Ferrero, another former world No. 1, even teased Hewitt with one of the Australian's famous "c'mon" cries after he missed a shot.

Hewitt, whose ranking is now No.50, was buoyed by his win at the US men's clay court championship in Houston in April but faces a tough draw in Paris with a first-round clash against 26th seed Ivo Karlovic.

The big-serving Croatian has beaten Hewitt each of the three times they have met in the past six years.

If Hewitt manages to break his losing streak against Karlovic, there is the even more daunting prospect of facing world No. 1 and four-time defending champion Rafael Nadal in the third round.

Hewitt's manager, David Drysdale, said the gritty Australian was not perturbed by the draw at Roland Garros, where he reached the quarter-finals in 2001 and 2004.

"He has played him [Ivanovic] before and I think he would be quietly confident," Drysdale said as he watched Hewitt slog it out with Ferrero.

"It's going to be a very tough match. Lleyton is going to have to rely a lot on his return serve and grinding the points out.

"But he feels he is hitting the ball well enough, so he sees himself as a good chance.

"He's feeling good and looking forward to it. He's enjoying clay more and more every year."

While Hewitt is much fitter than he was a year ago, there is still the prospect his hip injury could return to haunt him.

"I think obviously playing on this surface can take a lot out of you," Drysdale said.